magic ice cave
In my last post, ice ice baby, a few people asked me about my "ice cave" photo.
snow ram
Since I've always been fond of those particular photos, despite their marginal quality, I thought I might create a post with more of the series.
three headed dragon
Despite the fact that I only had a crappy Canon point and shoot camera with a cheap flash, some of the photos came out pretty awesome.
ice demons
Some of the hues that you see are from colored spotlights in the display, however intense editing on my part did occur in order to highlight the fantastical..
aliens
...and somewhat cheesy amateurish imagery you see here.
crimson night owl
These photos were actually taken at an event five years past - the Budweiser International Snow Sculpture Championships
gremlin attack
an event that's held every winter in the famous ski resort city of Breckenridge, Colorado.
prehistoric
Snow/Ice Sculpture Artists from all over the world come to compete in this exhibit, which is free to the public.
centipede
The contestants use only blocks of snow and hand tools to create a variety of giant sculptures which are then judged on specific criteria for the art.
planets
The year I attended, the exhibit also included a man-made ice fort, with various lighted ice formations meant to lure an intrepid amateur photographer into paying the $12 entrance fee.
melt
Granted I heard the fort took 3 days and tons of water to create.
horses at the gate
The real treat however was outside the fort, where water had cascaded and froze into natural formations.
outer wall of fortress
There are apparently a sizable number of both snow sculpture contests and ice castle attractions all over the world,
polar haze
which much to my chagrin are not only better in quality, but much more extensive, for about the same cost.
ice yeti
Below is a Youtube blurb about the Breckenridge Festival, with a poor quality aerial view of the 2014 ice fort (6:08 in video) that I wandered through.
Puny in comparison to most ice castles, really.
monument
At the time, I thought the car sized snow sculptures at Breckenridge to be quite impressive,
dicsicles
but a google search found some simply incredible sprawling house sized wonders elsewhere.
pagan ritual
See the articles listed below for some sensational photos!
articles of interest:
breathtaking sculptures
not the most well-written piece, but the photos are amaze-balls!!
ice and snow festivals around the world
look at all of these!!!
icecastles
a main website that lists some of the north american sites
ice castles colorado
for comparison to some of my photos
lake geneva ice castles
a popular chicago attraction
ice climbing
what better way to see ice but up close and personal
kings